Contrast Part II

To continue with my Art-leading-Paris-to-Modernity-while-retaining-heritage theme, I must expound on something I saw at Versaille today.
I almost got on the wrong train, but two nice tourist girls, who actually did just that earlier this morning, were kind enough to guide me. You'd think they'd make it less confusing, since millions of tourists flock to Versaille each year. There was an hour wait for entrance tickets, and I can only imagine the crowds in the summer. The most expensive thing I've done since arriving to Paris, I had to take a metro, a train, buy a ticket to the Chateau, and then to the Garden (I could not pass up the garden!). It was worth it. I waited until saturday because I read that they only turn on the fountains on weekends, and I got some great fountain shots!!
However, the unexpectedly cool thing was inside the Chateau. A remarkable reliquary, they've managed to maintain so much of the original decor and furniture of the royal family's life at the Palace. I could see why the people would want to revolt, what with their tax francs paying for matching velvet wallpaper and curtains. The entire place was a huge impulse buy, the luxury unthinkable for someone of middle class america. I could go on for pages about the things I saw, inside and out, but there was something remarkably unique about this visit.
This week, they had on display an exhibit by Jeff Koons, a name I've heard, but I'm not sure where. He's a contemporary artist, and created a series of works specifically for Versaille, and each piece was designed for a specific room. There was one in the courtyard, a grand, metallic, yellow, squishy-looking group of cyllinders. I couldn't figure out what it was, or what it was doing in historic Versaille. After touring a few of the daughter's bedrooms, I moved on to the King's area, and I got tired just walking around in there. Then, along the main hallway, I saw another odd sculpture, this one blue, and shaped like a balloon-animal dog, complete with balloon-tie nose! I loved it! There was a sign briefly describing the exhibit, but there was little information. But now at least, I knew what to expect. The next piece was entitled "Michael Jackson and Bubbles", and was a ceramic, life sized representation of, you guessed it, MJ and his monkey. Can you think of anything more out of place in a grand Palace? The pieces continued throughout the house, some making more sense than others (a gigantic blue, reflective "moon" balloon, int he Hall of Mirrors).
I couldn't figure out how or why this came to be, and why the historians would even allow such things inside this masterpiece of a villa. It just adds to my theory of the French secretly liking these odd disparities amongst their old culture. All the tourists were getting a kick out of it. One local French woman even asked me out in the garden "where I could find the art of Jeff Koons"? Such bizarreness, and yet it all made sense.
I truly think this is the trait that makes the French great: not that they bake knee-buckling pastries, or that they have managed to sustain a rich culture, but that they know when to move on, and don't lose sight of what's important. They're not quite the surrender monkey's we thought them to be.
I leave Paris tomorrow, so hopefully my next entry will be in Marseille!

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